Sounds like a bad connection somewhere to me.  Try cleaning the battery
cables and terminals.
Erik D.
'94 white lightning

Does it have any kind of alarm or 'theft deterent' system?
Something similar happend to my sisters car when she made a trip to
the grocery store.
It's got a factory alarm...  It's very passive...never
chirps....doesnt beep the horn or flashes the lights.

It all depended on a certain sequence of opening the drivers door
without starting the car for more than the usual time....then opening
the trunk/hatchback (with driver door opened), then maybe trying to
start it with the door open.

Nothing happened like you said (although Im not sure if her
accessories were dead).  Good samaritans tried jumper
cables...nothing.  Thing is, she never had closed the drivers door.
So, she closed the door and called a tow truck.  While the door was
closed for a certain amount of time (waiting for the tow truck), it
had reset itself and started right up when the tow truck arrived.

She later looked in her owner's manual and found that the 'theft
deterrent' feature would do just that if those sequence of events
occurred.
I think not using the remote door lock/unlock contributed.

It may be a stretch...but ya never know.....

Sign of old wiring... no power at all.  

Remove clean and tighten all large conductors between battery and engine,
starter solenoid/distribution terminal

Sound like you have an electrical drain somewhere in the system.  I had
similar problem and they traced in down to my amp on my radio.

Rogue electrons.....;^)  StuK

Likely a bad ground to the engine block.  The heat/cold cycles eventually let
just enough moisture into the connection that it becomes intermittent.  If
you're looking for a few more gray hairs, start here.

-JD

I saw the exact same failure happen to a friend's 1960s vintage Audi(?)
about 20 years ago.  Even the lights failed to work after she turned the
key, the whole car went dead.  I was in the car when it happened, and I
was counting on her for a ride home.

I had to think about the problem for 10 or 15 seconds.  I had lots of
recent experience with old cars and electrical problems at that time.  I
theorized that the high current drain had blown out the (very small)
good connection between a battery post and a battery cable, and that the
rest of the lead post/terminal was corroded (oxidized).

The battery was inside the car, under the rear seat.  I knew I had it
figured out once I saw the very dull (oxidized lead) battery posts.  I
cleaned the battery posts and terminals and reconnected the battery, the
lights came on, she started the engine, and we drove away.

She was a 4th year Electrical Engineering student, and I was a 4th year
Computer Science student, so she thought I was either psychic or a
genius, because it made no sense to her...

When you connected the jumper cables, you disturbed the lead connectors,
and made the connection just a little bit better, so it was able to
carry the starter current the next time.  Lead is very maleable, which
is why it is used for posts.

Al is right, clean all lead terminals and connectors well (they should
be shiny, not dull).  You can check the engine block ground-strap if you
want to but I think it is a red herring (and therefore completely
unnecessary -- unless you clean the terminals and the problem returns)  

BTW - Messing with the ground strap connection now could cause
additional problems in the future.

--Dave

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